Coldwell Banker lists North America’s most expensive and most affordable markets

By Melissa Chang

Published: 2011.06.16 10:22 AM

No surprise, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC named Honolulu as the state's most expensive market, according to results of a study released yesterday. Waianae weighed in as the state's most affordable market.

Coldwell Banker surveyed more than 2,300 markets across the country to get the average list price of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home (the standard to ensure they were comparing apples to apples). Each market included in the U.S. report was required to have at least 10 properties fitting the above criteria listed between September 2010 and March 2011.

According to the Home Listing Report (HLR), Waianae's average listing price for a home meeting this criteria was $319,633. Honolulu, on the other end of the spectrum, had an average list price of $797,675. The average four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Hawaii overall was $558,654, and the national average list price was $293,251.

Honolulu is a wide area, but the zone was determined by how it's listed on Coldwellbanker.com, the company's national website. So homes counted in this study would have been listed as far west as Moanalua/Salt Lake to the Hawaii Kai area in the east.

“It is always interesting to look at the HLR rankings to get a glimpse of how Hawaii’s real estate compares to various markets,” says Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties President Chason Ishii. “While this year’s report includes substantially more markets than previous years, we still see that Hawaii’s market is vastly different than other North American cities. It continues to be evident that land is a precious commodity in Hawaii, making our prices higher than the norm, but also quite stable over time.”

Ishii explains that by comparison, they've seen a lot of major price fluctuations in other markets. "Just a few years ago, the average list price in Scottsdale was similar to Honolulu; now it's $456,000. The inventory in Scottsdale has grown—they have more room to expand. Here in Hawaii, the inventory is at its lowest since 2005, which was the peak of the cycle. So our prices stay stable due to the demand and limited inventory."

Interestingly enough, neither Honolulu nor Waianae cracked the top 10 in either direction on this list. The most affordable market, with an average list price of $60,820 for the required four-bedroom, two-bathroom home, is Niagra Falls, NY. The most expensive market is Newport Beach, CA, with an average list price of $2,537,126. Six of the top 10 most expensive markets are in California (no surprise there, either).

To see the full report from Coldwell Banker and to play with the calculator to see how your home compares to other markets, visit http://hlr.coldwellbanker.com.

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About Our Writer

Rachel Ross is a Realtor at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hawai‘i Realty. Raised in Hawai‘i Kai, she previously worked in public relations and marketing where she assisted some of O‘ahu’s biggest community developers, educators and businesses. She loves connecting people and says that real estate is a form of matchmaking. She is mom to three teenagers and an avid runner, and notes that the hour each day of pavement-pounding is the only teen-angst-free peace and quiet she gets all day. rachelr@bhhshawaii.com